There will be several tests this semester, such as the competency exam. There will also be exams that are the result of the No Child Left Behind Act.

On Jan. 25, there will be the competency exam for the sophomores and anyone who needs to retake the test. This is an exit exam, which means that students have to pass it to graduate high school.

Only sophomores and those who have not yet passed will have to come to school on the day of the test.

“[I]t shouldn’t affect our capability of getting into college. The tests should only decide whether you get out of high school,” said La Cueva sophomore Whitney Henderson when asked if the tests should go on college transcripts.

The competency test will be made up of six sections: reading, language arts, mathematics, science, writing, and social studies.

Freshmen should have an advantage when they take the competency test their sophomore year since they are currently taking a course in New Mexico history.

Other tests that are coming up pretty soon are the tests for No Child Left Behind Act. These tests are used to see if schools are making adequate yearly progress by measuring the percentage of students that are proficient in core subjects. So far, La Cueva has been making the marks for adequate yearly progrees.

The junior test has doubled in size, mostly due to the extended time required for the six sections in reading and math.

To show that the school is making progress, 41% of the students will have to be proficient in reading, and 22% of the students will have to be proficient in math. The goad of the No Child Left Behind Act is to have both of these numbers reach 100% by 2014.

The test dates for juniors is on March 1-2 and the freshmen take their test on March 16-17. Only the students that will be tested will have to go to school on these days. Other grades will get these days off from school.

Foreign exchange students will also have to take the test here at La Cueva. Exchange students are not exempt from these tests at La Cueva, although they will be at other high schools.

There are several parts to the to the No Child Left Behind tests. Reading and mathematics are included in both tests. Freshmen will be tested on science and writing.

“I don’t have any problem with measuring our school’s performance, but it should be based on more than just tests,” said Pat Graff, the teacher at La Cueva who organizes and administers these tests.

The tests are designed for testing and tracking the performance of both the schools and the students. All of the tests are going to be on every student’s transcript.

“It’s bull that they put so much pressure on us about these tests,” said Henderson, when asked for her opinion of the tests.